A la Carte: 'Food in Jars'

There's something so iconic, so sweet, so gosh-darned sticky and messy about making jam on a hot summer day. You feel retro and virtuous at the same time, like a character out of "Little House on the Prairie." But here's the thing: Jam-making is a wonderful endeavor when your backyard has been overrun with blackberry brambles or you've gone hog wild at the U-Pick and now have panic-inducing quantities of fruit. For everyone else? Not so much -- not when you need to buy 12 pints of berries to make way too many jars of jam.

Fortunately, Marisa McClellan understands -- or perhaps she just gets that when faced with that many strawberries, we promptly eat half of them. The Philadelphia-based food blogger's new cookbook, "Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round" (Running Press, $23, 240 pages), is all about small-scale pickling, jamming and preserving. It's aimed at home cooks who don't need to provision an army but who'd like to preserve the bounty from their small kitchen garden or a brief foray to the farmers market. Best of all, McClellan doesn't stop at jam. She ventures into chutneys, curds, salsas and relishes, too. Hello, hot dog-ready Zucchini and Pepper Relish!

Here's just a taste:

Nectarine-Lime Jam

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Makes 3-4 pints

5 cups pitted, unpeeled nectarines, chopped

3 cups sugar

Zest and juice of 2 limes

3-ounce package liquid pectin

1. Prepare a boiling water bath for processing the jars. Sterilize 4 pint jars and lids.

2. In a large pot, bring the nectarines and sugar to a boil. Let jam boil for 15-20 minutes over high heat, until the fruit softens and can be mashed with the back of a spoon.

3. If you prefer a smoother-textured jam, use an immersion blender to break down some of the chunks. If you like chunkier jam, leave as is. Add the lime zest and juice and stir well. Add the pectin and bring to a rolling boil for a full 5 minutes, until it looks molten and syrupy.

4. Ladle into prepared jars, wipe rims, apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.